Biggles Lays a Ghost
Biggles Lays a Ghost is the ninth short story in the sixth anthology of Biggles Air Police short stories entitled Biggles Presses On. The anthology was first published in January, 1958. In the anthology, this story is preceded by Fishy Business and followed by Mischief by Moonlight. This story is also used as part of the preambular plot in the Vandersteen comic Operatie Spacefighter, published in 1967. Synopsis Biggles investigates reports of a mysterious aircraft which seems to appear and disappear in the clouds, the strangest part of it being that the aircraft had crashed during the Second World War and its entire crew had been killed. Plot (Click on expand to read) Air Commodore Raymond asks Biggles to investigate the reports made by airline pilots of a ghostly aircraft which seems to appear and then disappear into the clouds on dark nights. What was worse, the aurcraft seen was an old American B-17 which had crashed on take-off during the war and had killed all its crew. Biggles is sceptical about the existence of ghosts but the reports had all been made by experienced pilots, and so he and the Air Police crew patrol the Weald of Kent nightly in search of the ghostly apparition. After several fruitless nights, Biggles and Ginger finally spot the aircraft and, just like the other pilots reported, it seems to appear and then disappear in the clouds. Undeterred, Biggles stays around to see if it will appear again, and it does, and this time, Ginger also sees a bright blue light on the ground and manages to pin point its location. The next day, Biggles and Ginger drive to the location of the blue light and discover an inventor who has a searchlight. It's his latest project, he tells them, something that would revolutionize the film industry: an outdoor 3-D film projector. Because he had not yet bought a screen, he had been testing his projector by pointing it at low lying clouds. And had he been using movies of aircraft for the test? Of course, the inventor tells Biggles. People might look up and see his images, and they would not be alarmed to see aircraft in the clouds. But it might alarm pilots flying in the air at that time, and especially if the aircraft had the history that it had. The inventor apologises for not having foreseen this. Biggles lets him off, believing he has broken no law. However he advises him to either buy a screen or notify aerodromes of his intention to test his projector. Characters The Special Air Police/Scotland Yard *Air Commodore Raymond *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Ginger Hebblethwaite *Bertie Lissie Others *Tommy Thomson *Marston *Varlac Aircraft *Auster J1 Autocrat *Vickers Viscount Ships Places Visited *Scotland Yard - Biggles' office *Weald of Kent Mentioned Research Notes In the Vandersteen comic Operatie Spacefighter this story is used as part of the preambular plot. The main story elements are there, with the blue light and all but there are some differences: *The ghostly aircraft is a Dornier Do 215 and not a B-17. *The events take place in Ireland and not the Weald of Kent. *Biggles flies a patrol not with Ginger but with Air Commodore Raymond! *Biggles uses a Max Holste Broussard and not an Auster! *The inventor is given the name O'Connor. In the original story he is not named. References to the past Incongruities Chronology Category:Biggles short stories Category:Short stories Category:Air Police era short stories